About VMK
Virtual Magic Kingdom launched in 2005 as part of Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration. Players explored virtual versions of the Disney parks, collected pins and furniture, decorated their own guest rooms, and played mini games with each other. Disney shut the servers down on May 21, 2008.
The client was built in Shockwave, and since the official servers went dark the game has only lived on through community preservation work: archived client files, fan wikis, screenshots and memories.
About OpenVMK
OpenVMK is an open source server implementation for VMK. The goal is a self-hostable, well-documented server that speaks the original VMK client protocol, so the game can be preserved, studied, and run by anyone.
The original client
OpenVMK doesn't remake VMK. It serves the original client and its casts (the packaged rooms, furni, clothing and game art) from preserved game files, and patches only what's needed to point the client at a new server.
A new server
Disney's server code was never released. OpenVMK's server is written from scratch by reading what the client sends and expects back: sign-in, avatar creation, rooms, chat, furni, games.
How it fits together
- GameThe game server speaks VMK's original protocol to connected clients: rooms, chat, messenger, shops, trading, pins, magic, photos and mini games.
- WebThe web server serves the client, its casts and text files, and handles accounts.
- ClientBrowsers dropped Shockwave years ago, so the original client's Lingo scripts (the core plus all 40 game casts, about 5,000 handlers) are being ported to TypeScript, along with a Lingo runtime that runs them in a modern browser. It's still VMK's own code and behavior, without the plugin. A real Shockwave setup also works as a reference.
- ToolsTooling to inventory the game files, extract text and protocol data, and write the docs.
What OpenVMK is not
OpenVMK isn't a Disney product, and it isn't a commercial service. There's nothing to buy. The project's focus is preservation and documentation. Whether and how public servers are offered will be decided as the project matures.
Credits
OpenVMK is built by volunteers and stands on years of community preservation work: people who archived game files, documented the game, and kept earlier revival efforts going. Thank you.
The original Virtual Magic Kingdom was made by Disney together with Sulake. OpenVMK is not affiliated with either company.